Frequently asked questions
What’s the purpose of The Retirement Portfolio?
Most investment newsletters are designed for investors trying to maximise returns.
The Retirement Portfolio was built for a different objective: helping retirees and financially independent investors preserve and grow their wealth while reducing the impact of major drawdowns.
A large market decline early in retirement can permanently damage a portfolio if withdrawals are being taken at the same time. My goal is to provide a systematic investment process that seeks strong long-term returns while keeping drawdowns more manageable, making the strategy easier to stick with during difficult markets.
How does the strategy work?
The Retirement Portfolio is a fully systematic ETF strategy based on relative price momentum.
Rather than forecasting markets or selecting individual companies, the model compares the strength of a diversified universe of growth and defensive ETFs each month.
When growth assets are showing the strongest trends, the portfolio allocates to them. When market conditions deteriorate, the strategy can rotate into defensive assets such as bonds, gilts, gold, index-linked gilts, or cash-style ETFs. If no asset class is showing sufficient strength, the portfolio remains invested in the most defensive available option.
In many ways, you can think of it as a tactical evolution of a traditional multi-asset retirement portfolio.
How easy is the strategy to follow?
The strategy is designed to be simple.
Once each month, paid subscribers receive the latest portfolio allocation together with an explanation of any changes.
Implementation typically takes only a few minutes using widely available ETFs through a standard brokerage account.
No daily monitoring, forecasting, or active trading is required.
Can I have the rules or source code?
I explain the investment philosophy, research process, and the principles behind the strategy throughout this publication.
However, the detailed rules, calculations, and research that generate the monthly signals are proprietary.
Subscribers receive the live portfolio allocations and ongoing research rather than the underlying code.
Do you provide financial advice?
No.
Nothing published by The Retirement Portfolio constitutes personal financial advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any investment.
The publication is intended solely for educational and informational purposes. Every investor remains responsible for their own investment decisions.
Do you invest your own money using this strategy?
Yes.
I personally invest using the same systematic approach described in this publication and generally hold the same ETF allocations as the published model portfolio.
This is not a theoretical strategy or a model built purely for publication. It is the process I use to manage my own investments.
Why are you making the strategy available?
After many years researching systematic investing, I eventually developed a process that aligned with my own retirement objectives.
Rather than keeping that research entirely private, I decided to document the strategy publicly for investors who share the same philosophy of prioritising capital preservation, discipline, and long-term portfolio survival over chasing the highest possible returns.
Why not simply buy a global index fund?
For many investors, a global index fund is an excellent choice.
However, retirees face a different challenge from younger investors. Large drawdowns combined with ongoing withdrawals can permanently reduce the sustainability of a retirement portfolio.
The Retirement Portfolio attempts to reduce that risk by adapting its allocations as market conditions change, while remaining invested through a systematic rules-based process.
Is the strategy guaranteed to outperform?
No.
No investment strategy outperforms in every market, and there will be periods of underperformance.
The objective is not to win every bull market. The objective is to provide a robust, repeatable investment process that investors can realistically stick with over the long term.
Who is behind The Retirement Portfolio?
I’m an independent private investor with a background in econometric modelling and data science.
My interest lies in evidence, systematic investing, portfolio construction, and understanding how investors can reduce the impact of behavioural mistakes and sequence-of-returns risk.
The Retirement Portfolio is the culmination of years of research into building a retirement-focused investment process that balances growth with capital preservation.
Can I contact you with a question?
Absolutely.
I’m always happy to hear from readers.
Whether you have a question about the publication, feedback on an article, or a suggestion for future research, feel free to get in touch.